So, you’re a manufacturer and you opened a little retail site just to entertain a little traffic? Internet Retailer reports that brand manufacturers lead other merchants in monthly visits to their retail website, likely because 52% of the traffic coming to brand manufacturer sites were new visitors. The four different types of merchants detailed in the Internet Retailer story included brand manufacturers, catalogers, retail chains, and retailers that only sell on the web.

Now What?

Talk about prescient. Over 15 months ago, The Edge committed a flagrant act of foresight by detailing what many considered to be the first use of the term "showrooming." 

In our post, we described the steps Target was taking to combat Amazon - specifically, to limit the behavior of "showrooming" - essentially serving as a showroom for products, where shoppers would visit, touch, feel, study...and then ultimately, purchase on Amazon.

The term has entered the mainstream, as exhibited by this cool "showrooming" infographic. Check it out, because the statistics in the infographic swerve into an industry Edgenet has been working with - the Pet Industry. The infographic details the top five retailers at risk for showrooming, with a major big-box pet store listed as the second most likely retailer to be at risk. 

Edgenet figures your anxiety regarding showrooming should be in a direct inverse relationship with the quality of your product data. The better your data, the less your anxiety about showrooming and all of the other waves of consumer behaviors to come. 

Google the term "buyer's guide," and you'll find...a whole heck of a lot of buyer's guides. Not a lot about the the history of buyer's guides, or the evolution of buyer's guides...just buyer's guides. For horses, AM radios, and yo-yos...just about anything. 

It looks like no one knows where buyer's guides came from, not even the trusty Wikipedia. All we know is, they're here. And...they need help. A perfunctory look at a few buyers guides will reveal an almost-universal crater of functionality and technology. Why can't the yo-yo guide ask the user if they want a classic, flared gap, or modified shape and let them choose? Or, why can't the guide ask a question like: Are you looking for a yo-yo to perform looping tricks?

If you think we wrote this post because we could then put a picture of a cat in it, and cat pictures are really popular, you are only partly right. Because as popular as cat pictures have become, shoppers reviewing product data online has become even bigger.

We might have to just make a template of this post so we can change the underlined words and then publish it for any industry: shoppers are going online to research for products in the pet industry. That's because more and more shoppers in the pet industry have very specific product details - demands that MUST BE MET - before a purchase is made.

There's absolutely no doubt that small business owners today need as many tips and advantages as they can get. Whereas the internet will take all comers and entertain any vendor who can put up a website, it also severely punishes those who don't understand how to compete and market on the web.

SO, we're all about this article, which gives some tips and tricks for small businesses...mostly. Like 80%. Because tip Number 5 says, "Reduce Your Reliance on Search Engines."

Ummmm, ok.

Can I just have five minutes of your time? 

That used to be the "hook" phrase for most salepeople, back when five minutes was a little bit of time. Today, with the microwave cooking your food while you read and delete emails on your phone while you catch the latest sports headlines on a crawl underneath a sports anchor giving last night's scores...five minutes is an ETERNITY. How many tweets could you tweet in five minutes?

This article agrees. If your elevator pitch isn't tweetable, then your audience just won't hear it. Today's media consumers just don't have the time. 

So...drum roll...introducing Ezeeguides!

Ezeeguides asks shoppers simple questions and then, based on answers received, uses patented technology to guide them to the right products.

As mentioned before, no one structures and parses product data like Edgenet - which explains why no one can do what we do when it comes to guided selling. 

As more consumers turn to mobile devices for everyday activities, some merchants are skipping building a website suited for mobile, and instead working to ensure their products are optimized for mobile devices. So, even if you can't make your website practical and pretty for mobile, you can definitely make your inventory ready for mobile shoppers.

This article from ecommercebytes.com indicates that 65.2% of merchants do not have a mobile website - but mentions that 60% are willing to optimize their online product listings for mobile shoppers.

A recent article in the Financial Times of London speaks to just how much the world has changed for retailers. Neiman Marcus, the American luxury retailer, tried to expand into China.

Trouble is - it's really expensive to expand into China. Experts studied China's environment and announced that at an ESTABLISHED retailer in China, it would cost 27,000 to list a new product.

A recent study by ClickIQ demonstrates how badly consumers want product information while shopping. ClickIQ polled consumer panel members who used their phone or mobile device to research products while shopping. 61% said they used the internet to research a particular product, far and away the most popular activity.

Common misconception: stores that offers a product online (in other words, any store) sell products.

WRONG.

We have proof: go online to your favorite online store. We can wait.

Got it? Now, choose a product you're interested in. And then, reach into the screen and pick it up. If it's shoes, put them on. If it's a chrome-handled jumprope, skip it a few times.

We're certain that unless you're Willy Wonka, none of you could handle the request made above. That's because your favorite store isn't selling a product. It's selling product details. If you like the details, you'll give the stores money, and then they'll mail you a product.

So how are your product details? Are they good enough for sale? Are they as complete and well-tested as your product?

At Edgenet, we routinely encounter businesses that spend more time concerned about their product's packaging than their product data. Even though they're selling their product data every second of every day.

The shift continues.

Take, for example, this article in the Wall Street Journal, which notes shopper research has moved beyond the most expensive items to the daily shopping lists - even groceries.

Whether its food and beverages, baby items, or pet products, consumers are researching first before they buy.

We've been telling you for years that consumer behavior has shifted forever. We see it in studies like this one, which explain that impulse buying is dead. Challenging economic times, the rise of mobile devices being used as "data devices", and the increased demand for better images, videos and details have all combined to create a population clamoring for more.

We've recently stumbled across a study which proved our point. The study showed

Remember the old days? Like 2008? Back then foot traffic was one of the biggest desirables in retail. Retailers wanted nothing more than shoppers to walk into their store, shop the specials, stay to peruse the inventory, and be upsold by the staff.

In his latest article, Ad Age’s Antony Young has announced the new old days.

Meet a blogger who is as enthusiastic about the effectiveness of product data feed optimization as we are - Lisa Williams. She explains that data feed optimization can increase revenues 5% - 20% - consistent with Steve Tucker's success - and says that she thinks search is "sexy."

Nothing like being visited by a ghost or two in October. If you're a manufacturer or a retailer, we hope you're ready for the ghost described in this Internet Retailer article:  all about the Ghost of Christmas Present.

The article details that among consumers who go to stores, more than half - 54% - will use their mobile phones for shopping.

Meet Karl. A manufacturer trying to do more than get by - Karl has dreams he hopes to reach by improving sales of his widgets.

You know the scene in Jurassic Park - the scientists are breathlessly collecting themselves after a run-in with a dinosaur when a low rumble is heard.

The fabulous site Internet Retailer reports in this article that 50% of U.S. mobile phone owners use their devices to shop online or to assist while shopping in stores. It's a stunning statistic - but one of those emerging statistics that you just know is going to change radically in a short period of time. Remember when Facebook was the big thing because it had 500,000,000 users last year? Yeah, that's 800,000,000 now.

Internet Retailer goes on to describe a burgeoning group of shoppers called "light mobile phone users" who are demanding more from retailers and their mobile device to assist them with their shopping questions and needs. Apps are great. Mobile sites are necessary. But let's lock in on the problem and solution. Are you ready for this?

Author Robert Lacey writes in his book, Ford: The Men and Their Machine that in 1912, Henry Ford returned from a trip to Europe to a surprise – his chief aides had designed and built a new, low-slung version of the Model T, which sat in the middle of the factory floor. The Model T was the only vehicle the Ford Motor Company produced, and even as competition stiffened, Ford had been resolute about changing his original creation.

Ford sauntered up to the shiny red vehicle with his hands in his pockets and walked around it – once, twice, a third time, studying it, looking closely.

Then he reached out and grabbed the door to the vehicle. And tore it off.